Issue 47 - Room for a few more

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Room for a few more

Elsewhere in this issue we've looked at four distilleries a couple of years after they were given a new lease of life. Here Ian Buxton updates in tow new faces

There's something of a renaissance going on amongst small distillers. Not only have a number of Scotland's distilleries passed back into private hands, but a few brave pioneers are starting out from scratch.

Though many of us dream of starting our own distillery, in the cold light of day it doesn't seem quite such a good idea. It's a hard road. After such trivial problems as finding and securing the site; completing the design; getting planning permission and raising the finance have been overcome, you still have to actually build and commission your new baby, then run it.

There's always a honeymoon period, of course, and initial sales of casks and your various opening offers will probably go well but making whisky is a long-term game. With no reciprocal business to offer other distillers you will soon begin to worry about exactly what you're going to do with all the spirit you've made, as it sits slowly evaporating. Unless you're bankrolled by some very generous and patient investors, it's at about this point that the doubts start to creep in.

So in this distillery focus, I've taken the opportunity to look at two distilleries of the future. Dreamers, though they would no doubt prefer the term ‘visionaries', who have taken the big, bold and brave steps and started from scratch.

We're all familiar with some ambitious plans that, once announced, seem to disappear into the Scotch mist but at least one of these projects really is happening and production anticipated within...